


Born a Restless, Wayward Child

by I_stole_a_cannon



Series: Jedi's Guide to Love, Loss, and Desperation [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Kinda, a companion to the other "separation anxiety" fic, calling Yoda a frog gremlin is therapeutic, mention of a fear of heights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_stole_a_cannon/pseuds/I_stole_a_cannon
Summary: Kayha hasn't left the temple in a while and what's supposed to be a simple scouting mission turns complicatedOR: It's time to deal with Obi Wan Kenobi's separation anxiety
Series: Jedi's Guide to Love, Loss, and Desperation [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1328081
Kudos: 17





	Born a Restless, Wayward Child

**Author's Note:**

> this turned into a whole ass episode of Clone Wars which will hopefully soothe your soul post finale (it's also the reason it took so long and it's just a tad bit scatterbrained) I'm gonna try and not take so long on the next part since I'm officially out for the summer. (also sorry about Obi-Wan's characterization, he's harder to write than expected)
> 
> come find us on Tumblr @the-jedis-guide

_Stay afraid, but do it anyway_

Kayha never realized how much she adored Alyrisa complaining about meditation until her life almost ended. 

The two were walking to meditation with Master Yoda with Alyrisa complaining the whole way there. Not uncharacteristic to those close to her, Verilya had been on the receiving end plenty of times, but Kayha had seemingly made a fitting substitute while Verilya studied with Master Fisto for the afternoon.

“I’m just saying, asking someone like me to sit in silence, stare at a wall, and think my thoughts, is unchecked torture and should be outlawed.” Alyrisa said. Kayha had to laugh, it was comical, she’d never seen Alyrisa complain publicly about anything, and nothing as minor as guided meditation. 

“It can’t be that bad,” Kayha tried to assure.

“It kind of is,” Alyrisa said. “Imagine you’re me right? All the force does all day is chuck information at you and to function you have to ignore about… let’s say 80% of it. Now, you’re being  _ forced  _ to listen to all 100% of the information the Force is trying to give you and you have to make it look as if you’re having a peaceful afternoon so as to not freak out the frog gremlin teaching you.” She explained. 

“First, you’ve gotta stop calling Master Yoda a “frog gremlin” outside of meetings, one day he’s going to hear you,”

“Good! He’ll probably take it as a compliment,” Alyrisa said. Kayha rolled her eyes.

“Second, I can see how that would be a problem.”   


“Thank you, so now you’re seeing why I have to bail, and I need you to cover me?” She asked.

“I’m not covering for you,” Kayha replied. Alyrisa groaned and ran a hand through her hair.

“Please?”   


“What would I even say, it’s not like I can say your master pulled you for something.” 

“I typically go with ‘Cal didn’t want to have to deal with Burns and Hawks alone, so asked if she could have a second set of hands for the afternoon.’”

“Yeah, but that’s  _ your  _ excuse, if it came from me, it’d be out of character.” She said. They were about to discuss better options when Master Kenobi wandered over to them.    


“Master Kenobi! Please tell me you’re summoning me because Skywalker needs a second set of hands or I’ll die right here,” Alyrisa exclaimed with a faux look of desperation. Master Kenobi laughed at her dramatics.

“I’m afraid Master Skywalker has already left for his campaign,” which got another groan out of Alyrisa. “I’m actually here for Padawan Resal,” Kayha furrowed her brow at the master and Alyrisa just ran a hand through her hair.    


“I’ll leave you to it, see ya Kay!” Alyrisa said leaving the two and marching her way to the gardens alone for the time being, she’d pick up another conversation companion before Master Yoda got underway.   


“What can I do for you Master Kenobi?” Kayha asked. She hadn’t really interacted with Master Kenobi at all, so him seeking her out was quite a bit unusual. 

“The Council has asked me to go on a scouting mission to the Outer Rim and has requested I bring you along. Something about your lack of field assignments.” He said. Kayha tried to not let a glare escape her, the Council was the  _ reason _ she hadn’t been getting field assignments since they had refused to assign her another master after the war broke out, Alyrisa had only gotten to because she’d endeared herself to Master Skywalker, and Kladinestra seemed content working in the speeder bay and ship docks. So she simply nodded.

“Gladly, should I be grabbing my things now or?” 

“So long as you have your lightsaber, we should be fine. It’s a simple look to see if a planet is there, a fly by.”

“Forgive my bluntness Master, but if rumors are to be believed, it’s never that simple with you, I’d much rather have my things and not need them than vice versa.” She said. Master Kenobi nodded.

“Very well, I’ll meet you in the starship port then.” He said. Kayha bowed and wandered back toward her dorm. There was a tad bit of internal giddiness at the idea of getting out of the temple. Even for something as simple as a “fly by” scouting mission. Kayha had to prevent herself from sprinting to her dorm so she could get out there, but she managed, coming upon her room and fishing out her go bag to start traveling. She slung it over her shoulder and grabbed her utility belt and power walked to the nearest elevator to get to the star ship port. 

When she got down there, she came upon Master Kenobi inspecting the ship that she guessed they were going to be flying. It was bigger than his starship, but smaller than Skywalker’s freighter. 

“Ready when you are Master Kenobi.” She said to announce her presence. Master Kenobi turned around and he chuckled when he saw her bag.

“We’re only going to be gone for a rotation.” He said.

“I’m not bringing the bag with me, it’s just some notebooks for after the mission. If we are to be scouting, we’ll need to take notes.” She posed. Master Kenobi nodded, surprised that he hadn’t considered it. 

“Very well, get settled, I have one more thing to clear before we go.” He said. Kayha nodded and climbed aboard, sitting next to the pilot’s seat and glancing around at the controls. She didn’t know what any of them did and asked the Force politely to make it so she didn’t have to learn on this mission. Master Kenobi soon came in and sat in the pilot’s seat. They were silent as they left the port and got into the atmosphere, Kayha content on just looking at Coruscant from a different point of view. As they got into space, Kayha tried not to look too awed by the stars around them, but felt herself failing. “They sure are something,” Master Kenobi said as he plugged in the coordinates for where they were headed. 

“You can never see them on the surface with all the lights.” She said not really to him, but in general as she kept looking. 

“Are you ready?” He asked. Kayha briefly turned to him and nodded as they made the jump to hyperspace. Once there, Kayha felt herself relax slightly. 

“What’s the name of the planet we’re looking at?” She asked.

“Colia.” He said. “It’s in an odd part of the Outer Rim, we thought we had it on the maps, but it turns out we know nothing about it other than its supposed location and its name.” 

“Figures,” she said, “if it hadn’t caused any trouble and was this far out of the way, the Council would have no reason to venture out this far.” She found herself looking at her fingers and trying to pull the dirt from under her thumb nail. “But why now?” She asked. 

“Why now?”

“If it’s this far out of the way and it’s been known about for this long, why go see what it is now? Why send you while there’s a war going on?” She asked.  _ And why would the Council have me of all people tag along? _

“Who really knows with Master Yoda,” Master Kenobi responded. Kayha messed with her lip and looked out at hyperspace as she felt something creep into her gut. A tug that was warming up the flashing warning lights. They came out of hyperspace to a fairly unassuming planet. It looked to be terrestrial, with patches of forests visible from space. Kayha turned to look around and saw the nearest star had a problem.

“Why does it look like there’s a droid control station orbiting that star?” She asked. Master Kenobi turned to where she was looking. 

“Because it is, but why is it orbiting the star?” He asked.

“And more worryingly, where’s the rest of the fleet?” She asked as she scanned the planet. 

“We have to go to the surface.” Kenobi said. Kayha chuckled, of course they did.

“What’s our plan once we’re down there?” She asked. 

“Figure out if the inhabitants know anything and spring whatever trap the Separatists are planning.” 

“Do we know anything about what we’re walking into?” She asked. Master Kenobi didn’t answer her and Kayha tried very hard not to read into it. Still, they made the descent to the planet’s surface and landed outside of town. Kayha shifted her robe to cover more of herself as the gangplank lowered and the two stepped off the ship.

“I imagine town is going to be the best place to look for information,” Master Kenobi said. Kayha nodded and fell in step as they walked to the edge of town. As they entered, there wasn’t anything initially off, it was a small town center with vendors and people milling about. Kayha noticed a banner hanging, it was new. The dirt of the planet hadn’t settled in on it. Kayha wandered over and thumbed it lightly. There was a large yellow circle with a medium grey circle inside of it and a grey half circle sitting underneath it.

“Kenobi,” Kayha whispered. Master Kenobi wandered over. “I think this is about the command station.” She said.

“I think you’re right,”

“We should ask around,”

“Alright, but keep your comm on,”

“Always do.” Kayha said as she wandered over to a fruit vendor’s stall. She was looking over the fruit.

“Bright suns traveller!” The seller said. Kayha felt herself nearly jump out of her skin.  _ Force. _ “How can I help you?”

“Sorry, I was just looking at your fruit,” Kayha said with a somewhat forced smile. The seller smiled back at her and it was almost as forced.

“Well, please, look away. We don’t often get strangers here,” they said. Kayha nodded.

“Yes, unfortunately my pilot and I were given the wrong coordinates and we’re low on fuel.”

“Oh, well the mechanic down the road sells fuel, but you’ll have to wait until after the ceremony. He’s closed until then.” The seller replied. Kayha went to nod until a mention of a ceremony.

“Wait, what’s the ceremony?” She asked. The seller furrowed their brow but then the eerie smile returned.

“Of course you wouldn’t know traveler. The ceremony is to pay tribute to The Harbinger.” They said.

“The Harbinger?”

“Yes. A sign from The Great Aleaesh of the end of days.” They said. Kayha tried to not look too concerned.

“How long has the Harbinger been here?”

“About two cycles.” The seller said. Kayha nodded slightly.

“Thank you for this, when is the ceremony happening?”

“In about half an hour, everyone will pour into the square, you won’t be able to miss it,”

“Right, thank you again.”

“Farewell traveler.” The seller said as Kayha left. She tried to piece together all the information she had so far when someone hissed at her from an alley. She looked over and there was a woman with her hood drawn. Kayha furrowed her brow as the woman motioned her over. She cautiously took a step over, but stayed in the sun. 

“You know, I typically don’t trust hooded figures who summon me from alleys.” Kayha said. The woman scoffed.

“The ceremony isn’t as it seems, find me when it happens.” The woman said and then vanished. Kayha watched her disappear and then heard clattering. She whipped her head around and found a large creature hoisting Master Kenobi up by his robes. Kayha let out a groan and jogged over. The creature was growling at Master Kenobi and his companion was brandishing a knife.

“Whoa! Whoa, gentlemen, I’m sure we can resolve this without a knife.” She said cutting in with an apologetic smile. “I apologize for anything my father might have said, his gears don’t always turn the way they’re supposed to.” She added. She felt Kenobi glare at her, but she didn’t pay him any mind. The creature all but threw Kenobi back on the ground and she smiled again. “Thank you, we’ll be on our way,” she said as she grabbed Kenobi’s sleeve and dragged him away.   


“Your father?”   


“Shut up, I needed something quick and it was the first thing that came into my head.” Kayha replied. “I’ve got information, and I think for once I might be one up on you.” She said.

“I had a handle on it,”   


“You were about to be gutted like a fish,”

“I would’ve managed it,” he replied. Kayha rolled her eyes and hoped he hadn’t noticed as she pulled him into the alley that the woman had previously been in. 

“Did you manage to get anything out of them?” She asked as she settled herself against the wall and watched for people going into the town square.

“Unfortunately not enough. All I know is they worship something called The Great Aleaesh,” Kenobi said as he stroked his beard.

“Then it’s a good thing I know a bit more. The station’s been here for about two cycles and they’re hosting some sort of ceremony soon to pay respect to it, but I don’t know what that entails except that it might not be a good thing. And the whole town seemingly has to go, or at least is encouraged to.” Kayha explained. 

“Not a good thing?”

“Some strange woman in a hood told me that it wasn’t what the seller was pitching, but I kinda guessed that. So I  _ think _ I’ve agreed to meet her before it starts to get a better understanding of what's going on.” 

“You think?”

“She didn’t really give me time to agree to it before she disappeared alright?” Kayha sniped. “Point is, I think the ceremony might be a time marker. It seems to happen at the same time everyday, so what’s being marked and what do they do to mark it…” Kayha muttered as people started to wander past their alley in droves.

“Why don’t we find out?” Kenobi asked, gesturing for them to fall in with the crowd. Kayha nodded and both of them drew their hoods up. Kayha found it hard to stay silent as they wandered through the masses and kept sneaking glances at Kenobi to try and get a real read on what he thought of this plan. Though, of course he was being difficult and she wasn’t getting any information out of him. 

When they reached the town’s center, the duo found themselves in about the middle of the crowd, surrounded on all sides. Kayha took note of the fountain in the middle of the square and the small, ramshackled, “this was put together in a pinch” stage with a respective space in front of it, despite the lack of obvious guard.

“Where is this informant of yours?” Kenobi asked. Kayha kept scanning the crowd before finding her towards the front. Kayha pointed slightly and snuck a glance.

“I’ll go over and figure out what this is about, and then we’ll figure out if we need to intervene, though personally I’d bet on a firm yes.” She said as she carefully maneuvered through the crowd without arising too much suspicion. Kayha stood next to the woman and carefully nudged her shoulder. “So, care to share with the uninformed what this is all about?” Kayha whispered. The woman carefully looked over at her and then stared straight ahead.

“It’s a public execution,” she said with a tone bleeding with sorrow.

“Who’s?”

“Taliqa Liose of House Corina.” The woman said with every ounce of reverence. Kayha chuckled, a princess.    


“Alright, then I guess we’re staging a rescue mission. I’m assuming there’s enough of a population around here that isn’t about this whole cult thing,” Kayha said. 

“Well yes, but I’m afraid I’m acting without their clearance. They think rescuing the princess is too risky for such a small group.” The woman said.

“Well then, it’s a good thing my partner and I showed up,” Kayha replied. “Alright, so the guy comes out, how many guards are going to be on the princess do you think?” she asked. 

“If it’s anything like the rest of her family, four, but only two are armed,” 

“Perfect, so here’s the plan: I’ll cause a distraction, you grab the princess, and run her to my partner,”

“Who?”   


“There’s a man standing behind us with his hood drawn and is probably glaring at the back of my head.” She said. The woman snuck a glance over her shoulder.

“He’s not glaring but he is seemingly concerned as to why I looked over at him.”

“Perfect, let me go warn him.” Kayha said as she cautiously wandered back to Kenobi’s side. “So two things, one this is a public execution and two I have a plan and you’re not gonna like it,”

“And why’s that?”   


“Because a major part of it involves me acting as a human shield.” Kayha replied. 

“I won’t--”

“Listen, if I die then the Council loses a padawan, if they lose you they lose a general. I’m not about to have Obi Wan Kenobi’s death in my ledger, let alone deal with the Skywalker guilt.” Kayha cut him off. “Now, a woman is going to come over with a princess, your job is to get them out of the square to relative safety, I’ll hold them off before joining you, the woman will be able to get us to the resistance that’s fighting against the cult, cool? Cool. Good luck,” she said as she wandered back to the woman. 

“And?”   


“My friend is aware,”

“Your friend looks less than enthused by this,” The woman said as she looked over Kayha’s shoulder. 

“Eh, he’s concerned about how he keeps getting stuck with reckless hotheads, forgetting of course that he is, in fact, also a reckless hothead. He just makes it look like he knows what he’s doing.” Kayha replied. A hush fell over the crowd and the two looked ahead finding a man in a billowing golden robe come onto the stage along with two men with elaborate headpieces. Two other men came on from the opposite side and were dragging a young woman who looked like she had seen better days. 

“That’s her,” the woman said. Kayha nodded as she looked at her. She was beautiful, even with the dirt and grime. The man in the robe came center stage and the already silenced crowd reached eerie levels. 

“Citizens of Colia!” He began, “It is time for another offering to The Harbinger so the Great Aleaesh may save us from the destruction it can wrought!” He said. If Kayha was forced to find something about her enemy to remark on, he was a very good presenter if anything. “I have asked The Harbinger what it desires,”  _ wait, asked? _ That might complicate matters, assuming that the man wasn’t blowing smoke. Kayha settled on that he was just making shit up and continued listening. “The last of the royal’s line must fall if Colia is to begin anew.” He added. The princess, Taliqa, was dragged to the front of the stage and dropped to her knees. The crowd was still eerily silent and Kayha turned to the woman next to her.

“Get ready,” she whispered. The woman nodded.

“Any last words princess?” The man asked. Taliqa, fierce as ever under the grime caked onto her face stared steadily at the crowd.

“Even if the Great Aleaesh was real, I doubt it would advocate for the spilling of innocent blood.” Taliqa said. Kayha pulled her lip between her teeth as the princess was thrown to the ground and an electric knife was passed to the robed man. 

“Excuse me!” Kayha yelled, breaking the eerie silence. She threw her hood down and maneuvered her way to the metaphorical barricade before standing in the empty space in front of the robed man.

“How dare you interrupt the ceremony,”

“As someone who’s an actual prophet, I’m  _ gonna _ have to agree with the princess on this one,” Kayha said as she jumped her way onto the stage. “I mean seriously, the Great Aleaesh hasn’t asked for blood in  _ at least _ two centuries, where have you been?” She said. She was gesturing wildly as she talked and was circling the robed man. “Besides, even if it was asking for it, on a stage like this would  _ hardly _ be the place for it, it wouldn’t seep into the planet like expected.” She went on. The men all looked at her in confusion, like they weren’t expecting her to be giving constructive criticism on how to kill this woman. Finally the robed man came to his senses.

“Blast her!” He yelled and the two men holding the princess started firing. That was enough to shock the crowd out of their silence and had them start fleeing. Kayha had her lightsaber drawn and started deflecting blasts as the woman in the hood grabbed Taliqa and started running towards Kenobi. Kayha managed to back herself to the edge of the stage where she then jumped off and started running after Kenobi and the princess as she kept parrying blasts. They ran into the alley and down a manhole where they ended up in the sewer tunnels. It was here where all parties involved let out a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you,” Taliqa said smiling at Kayha. 

“Ah, don’t worry about it, saving royalty’s practically in the job description.” Kayha said with an easy smile. 

“Is it now?” The woman in the hood said. Kayha was a little mad at herself that she hadn’t caught her name, but neither party had been really in a position to offer it until now.

“Whatever the case may be, I’m thankful for your help,” Taliqa said. “I suppose now the task is to take Colia back,” she added.

“Unfortunately you’ll have to do that without us,” Kenobi said and Kayha tried to not let a glare escape in his general direction. She supposed he was technically right, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. 

“But…” Kayha cut in, “We might be able to make it a bit easier. I’m assuming if The Harbinger were to disappear, the cult would lose a significant amount of power.” She guessed. 

“It might lose all of it,” Taliqa said. 

“Perfect,” Kayha said with a grin. Taliqa’s cheeks were colored pink and Kayha tried not to let it show that she had picked up on it. “Then it’s been an honor, but my partner and I have a ship to go blow up.” She said as she popped the manhole cover back off and jumped back up to the surface. Kenobi wasn’t too far behind her and settled the manhole cover back in place. 

“Thanks to that, we have to be careful getting out of town, assuming they haven’t done anything to the ship.” Kenobi said. 

“If you want me to apologize, you’re not getting one. Being a Jedi means doing the right thing, and rescuing an innocent is usually the right thing to do.” Kayha said. She drew her hood back up and peaked out of the alley. “Kenobi, you know how to power walk right?”

“What?”   


“We’re gonna power walk out the front gate.”

“Fine,” and so the duo did so, power walking while trying to not call attention to themselves as best they could. They managed to clear the gate and let a sigh of relief escape them as they got onto the ship. As Kayha settled in and Kenobi broke out of the atmosphere. Kayha tried to formulate a plan. 

“Do we take out command or the engines first?” She asked. 

“Typically, we’d split up, one does one job and one does the other.”

“Then I’ll take the engines.” She said. Kenobi furrowed his brow. “What? Less droids and I have a relatively good idea how to slash them up.” She added. 

“Right then,” he said. Kenobi carefully piloted toward the station and Kayha was left trying to figure out how she planned on taking out the engines, or even if she could. She had to admit she was a bit out of her depth, but she couldn’t let Kenobi know. That would be absurd, so she instead tried to remember if any of Alyrisa’s hacks of the various data collections could be of use in this particular panic. “Are you alright?” Kenobi asked. Kayha looked over and tried to mask her surprise at how long she’d been in her head, considering how close the station was to them. 

“Yeah fine, just…”

“First battle station?”   


“Yeah,”

“Relax and you’ll be fine.” Kayha took a deep breath. That was easy for him to say, he’d been in too many situations like this, and usually with a more experienced right hand. 

They managed to fly into one of the side hangers and Kayha couldn’t tell if it had been abandoned or if it was just understaffed, due to the lack of droids here. 

“Right, meet back here when the job’s done,” Kayha said with a nod.

“Keep your comm on,”

“Always do,” she said. With a salute, she took off. Most of the padawans had been forced to learn the basic schematics of the control stations, and even with the modifications, she figured everything would be in the same place so they wouldn’t have to reprogram for this specific, oddly secretive station.  _ I’m gonna have to ask Kenobi about that later _ , she thought. They wouldn’t have found this had the council not sent them on this scouting mission, so did they know and the scouting mission was a ruse? Or was the Force playing tricks.

Though none of that mattered as Kayha entered the control room and found one  _ major  _ problem: A thin bridge to the control station in the middle, patrolled by two or three droids, over a large chasm several thousand meters down. 

Kayha wasn’t afraid of much, but heights might do her in one day. So maybe her taking on the engine rooms had been a bad idea. She was going to have words with Alyrisa when she got back about the models not mentioning this. Not to mention probably work through this  _ stupid  _ fear that was going to get her killed. Though, if rumor was to be believed, she would be better off asking Verilya. 

Well she had to take care of the droids first, that she could do from over here, easy. She rounded the corner into the engine room proper.

“Oi! Clankers!” She yelled. The three droids turned to her and immediately started blasting. Kayha ignited her saber and batted the blaster bolts away from her and hit the three droids onto the control panel. She knew she was going to have to cross the bridge to do any real damage but she figured she’d try the force first. She took a deep breath and focused on the hum of the machines. She tried to crack into their paneling, but her abilities just weren’t strong enough, and she couldn’t just start pulling levers without knowing what they did. 

“Padawan Resal, I’ve taken out the command center, how are the engines coming?” Kenobi said into her comm. Kayha jumped at the sudden voice, despite her open admittance that she kept her comm on at all times. The droids rounded the corner and started blasting her and Kayha was faced with a choice, and she took the one that would get her mission complete: she batted the blasts and ran for the engine room control panel. “Padawan Resal?” Kenobi said. Kayha was too focused on making it across without looking down and keeping the droids dead as they kept pouring in. “Kayha!” Kenobi finally pleaded as Kayha made it to the center of the room.

“Just had a small delay, but if you want to join the party, I’ll be sure to save some for you,” she said as she looked over the controls and started pulling levers and slashing sections, doing functionally the opposite of whatever the instructions said to do. 

“Well hurry, I find it hard to believe the Separatists would be too pleased to see us.” Kenobi said. Kayha nodded, but then realized a problem: if she thought the chasm was too big and the bridge too narrow from the main part of the room, then on the tiny island that kept the engine paneling it looked massive and all consuming and the bridge looked like a tightrope from the circuses that sometimes played on Coruscant.

“Fuck…” she muttered. Her heart rate had doubled and she imagined that even Burns would be concerned at its uneven rhythm. “Um… Master, I hate to say this, but do you think you could swing by the engine room?” She asked, trying to keep her breathing even and her voice steady.

“Are you hurt?”

“Well,”   


“Stay there, I’m coming.” Kayha found herself backed against the paneling she’d just destroyed as she tried to put enough distance between her and the bridge as possible. The alarms were blaring as the effects of her meddling started and  _ stars _ did she want nothing more than to be able to cross the bridge unimpeded, but looking at it was starting to make her want to puke. Before she collapsed into a sitting position, she managed to see Kenobi’s auburn hair come through the door.

“Kayha!” He yelled.

“I’m here!” She managed before almost breaking. Kenobi ran across the bridge like it was nothing, meanwhile Kayha was beating herself up for having a stupid fucking fear. Kenobi briefly knelt down. 

“Where are you hurt?” He asked. Kayha knew it wasn’t the time, but had Master Kenobi’s eyes always been that blue?

“Well, something my master never got to experience with me, and thus I never had to deal with is apparently a severely crippling fear of heights.” Kayha said. “I mean, I knew I didn’t like high places, except in enclosed ships; speeders make me crave death. But something about life threatening circumstances and thousand meter chasms have made my brain shut down and the only way you’re getting me back across is if you carry me.” She added in a rush as her brain was scrambling to find a reasonable way to get her back across short of more droids blasting them. She tried to peek around Kenobi, but he quickly blocked her.

“You’re alright, but looking at it will make it worse,” he said. Kayha refocused on him and tried to even her breathing again. He shifted his position so he could stand easier, and pulled her into a hug. 

“Kenobi, please telling me I’m reading this right,”

“You said the only way you’re getting across is if I carry you, and this is the only way that’ll ensure you don’t look down.” He said. Kayha was eased simply by the warmth, which the touch starved padawan didn’t want to admit was the best thing to happen to her all month. Kayha threw her arms around his neck and as soon as he was standing, wrapped her legs around his waist, quick to screw her eyes closed and bury them into his neck like the terrified child she felt like she was.  _ Maybe this is why the Council didn’t send her on missions, surely they knew about this major flaw. _ She thought, if only to distract her brain from screaming  _ How in the galaxy does Kenobi smell so good? How is his beard both rough and soft at the same time? Holy stars did she not want to think about her possibly being attracted to Obi Wan Kenobi, Verilya wouldn’t let her hear the end of it. _ Soon enough, Obi Wan tapped her shoulder and she opened her eyes to found them safely on the other side. She let herself down and ignited her lightsaber.    


“Hopefully we can have a dash more fun before we make the jump home,” She said with a grin, as if the whole ordeal hadn’t just happened. She took off down the hallway and ran for where they’d parked the ship. There were a few droids and after the stress the engine room had given her, she was just a tad bit gleeful at slashing them as she made it to the ship and did the bare minimum of prepping the engines. Obi Wan wasn’t too far behind her and slid into the pilot’s seat, surprised that the engines were going, glancing at Kayha.

“That’s all I know how to do, and we’re kind of in a hurry,” she said. Obi Wan nodded and maneuvered the ship out of the hanger quickly as the ship blew up around the star.

“Hopefully that makes Taliqa’s job a bit easier.” Obi Wan said. He prepped the nav computer and plugged Coruscant in and they made the jump. Kayha felt her entire body sigh as the seeming comfort of hyperspace took the ship over. The silence that fell was less so, both Jedi seemed to have questions for the other, but were trying to figure out how to ask them. 

“Do you mind not telling the Council about my fear of heights?” Kayha asked.

“Do they not already know?”   


“They picked a more existential fear for my initiate trials,” she muttered. “I barely had time to tell my master about it before,”  _ they died. _

“Your master died during the First Battle of Geonosis correct?” He asked, though Kayha suspected he already knew the answer, so she nodded. “I’m sorry,” he said looking down at the controls of the ship.

“Why are you sorry, you didn’t kill them.”

“They wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t been captured.” He said. “I can’t help but think that my rescue was a catalyst for  _ an entire war _ .” he added. Kayha didn’t know what to say. 

“The way I hear it, without you we would’ve been more blindsided by the Separatists. The war, as much as I hate to admit it, was probably inevitable. It has been since Naboo. But had the droids been allowed to win at Geonosis? There would be no more Jedi. Obi Wan, you can’t take the guilt of the galaxy on your shoulders. It’ll give you back pain.” She said. Obi Wan chuckled a bit at her last comment. 

“Very well then,” as they broke out of hyperspace, Kayha let out a sigh.

“Man am I not looking forward to this debrief,” she said and at that Obi Wan let out a full laugh. 

“You and me both.” 


End file.
